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Home » What is Durban Grass? Classification, Uses, Pros, and Cons

What is Durban Grass? Classification, Uses, Pros, and Cons

By Author Sylvia Kiragu

Posted on Last updated:

Durban grass is a warm-season perennial grass that spreads through above-ground stolons. While it can also grow in full sun, it thrives best in shaded areas. 

Its dark green colour and shiny texture, soft feel, and high shade tolerance traits make it the perfect turf for residential lawns, parks, and gardens. 

Durban Grass Scientific Classification

  • Domain: Eukaryota
  • Kingdom: Plantae
  • Phylum: Tracheophyta
  • Subphylum: Angiospermae
  • Class: Liliospida
  • Order: Poales
  • Family: Poaceae
  • Genus: Dactyloctenium
  • Species: Dactyloctenium australe
  • Common Names: Durbangrass, Sweet Smother grass, Sweet smothergrass, Coast grass, Natal crowfoot, and Berea grass

Uses

As one of the few grasses with a high shade tolerance, Durban grass is a popular ground cover for residential lawns, parks, rough areas on golf courses, and garden areas. 

It is also used in orchard inter-rows for weed control and to prevent soil erosion.

The grass is also used as ground cover for nut tree plantations such as the macadamia plantations.

Pros

Durban grass is a soft textured grass that thrives best in shaded areas
Durban grass is a soft textured grass that thrives best in shaded areas. Image: Facebook/jerrycolebywilliams

Here are the benefits of growing Durban grass:

  1. Durban grass can grow in full sun but can tolerate shade — from 50%.
  2. It’s slow-growing but forms a dense and lush sward. 
  3. It has a soft feeling underfoot.
  4. It’s a relatively low-maintenance grass — at maturity, it can be maintained without an irrigation system.
  5. The grass requires weekly mowing at the highest mower setting (typically no less than 4 cm) to keep it neat.
  6. It is less invasive compared to other grasses like Kikuyu.
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Cons

The drawbacks of growing Durban grass include:

  1. It does not recover well from wear.
  2. Close mowing makes it vulnerable to weeds and pest infestations.
  3. It is sensitive to selective herbicides and can easily suffer damage.
  4. It can go dormant (turn brown) in severe drought conditions.

Durban grass is a great choice if you’re looking for a dark green and soft turf that can thrive in sun or shade. You’ll only need to grow it in light-traffic areas, mow it right, and you’ll enjoy a beautiful and healthy turf.